Dust Child

Phong runs into Dan and Linda at the office where his DNA sample is being processed. He realizes that Dan was a soldier and asks to talk to him. Phong explains that his own father was an American GI and says he is trying to find him. He hopes that Dan will be able to help somehow. Dan agrees to meet with Phong later that day at their hotel, with Thiên interpreting for both parties. Phong arrives at the appointed time. He tells his story and asks if Dan and Linda can help him locate his father. Dan and Linda try to explain that they are only tourists and that they do not have the right connections. Linda offers Phong money, but he refuses it. In Vietnamese, Thiên tells Phong that Dan and Linda are selfish and that they do not care about Vietnamese people. Thiên says that he will keep an eye out for Black veterans looking for their Vietnamese children, but he says that Dan and Linda have their own problems and will not be able to help Phong locate his father.

Trang is in love with Dan, and she assumes that he returns her feelings. She worries about his safety when he is off on missions, and although she seeks solace in her relationship with her sister, a distance has sprung up between them. Quỳnh has fully embraced her life in the city, but she is also more realistic in her assessment of the American soldiers. She is happy to fraternize with them, but she remains emotionally distant and sees them as a source of income. Unlike Trang, she does not believe that there can be a romantic future between Vietnamese women and American men.

Although Trang’s love continues to deepen, Dan grows angry and distant. He drinks too much and is often upset with Trang. The two argue, and he accuses her of having sex with other men. He disappears for days on end, and Trang is desperate to repair their bond. She goes to see Quỳnh to ask for her help, but Quỳnh has just been beaten up by a soldier and asserts that the war changes soldiers: They are “civilized” when they arrive, but the more time they spend in battle, the angrier and more violent they become. Dan’s behavior continues to follow this pattern, and after some time, Trang begins to get frustrated with him. She is faithful to him, and because she does not demand an allowance from him, her salary has greatly diminished in the months since the two moved in together. They have an explosive argument, but Dan cries and apologizes afterward. He tells Trang that he needs her.

A few weeks later, Trang wakes up nauseated and vomits; she is pregnant. When she tells Dan, she sees fear in his eyes when she had anticipated happiness. He turns and walks away from her. Some weeks later, an envelope of money appears in the apartment. Dan did not even have the courage to face her before he left her. She realizes that her involvement with him had been a mistake.

Dan wakes up in the hotel room. Linda says that she has been up for hours. The two argued the day before because Linda was sure that Phong was trying to scam them into helping him immigrate to the United States, but Dan was moved by Phong’s story. However, Linda has done some research. She now better understands the difficulties faced by the children of American servicemen in Việt Nam, and she regrets her mistrust of Phong. Dan contemplates the life that his own child must have had, and he feels guilty. A call from Thiên interrupts their conversation. He says that he wants to speak to Dan alone, so Dan heads down to the reception desk to meet him.

Thiên says that he is reluctant to continue serving as their guide. Dan wants him to continue since he feels that Thiên is a help to Linda. Thiên, however, tells Dan that because of the Americans, the Vietnamese lost the war. He blames the United States for the trauma inflicted on Việt Nam and his people. He describes the hellish time he and others who fought alongside the Americans experienced in re-education camps after the war. He accuses the United States—and, by association, Dan—of failing to acknowledge its destructive role in Việt Nam’s history and of ignoring the hard battles fought by the Vietnamese themselves. Dan is not able to fully grasp what Thiên is telling him, but he does manage to get the man to agree to keep working for them for a few more days.

Thiên then takes Dan and Linda on a tour of some small villages in the Mekong Delta. Dan has a PTSD episode in which he remembers accidentally killing a group of children whom one of his fellow soldiers mistook for spies. A young man named Thanh notices Dan’s agitated condition and invites them to rest in his home. When Linda compliments Thanh’s English, he reveals that he is an English teacher. At Thanh’s home, they meet his father, who has Alzheimer’s. Thanh tells them about his father’s involvement in the war: He was in the North Việt Nam army and fought in one of the same regions—although on the opposite side—as Dan and Thiên. All of them gather in front of the family’s altar to share a moment of prayer. Dan prays for all the dead and abandoned children, including the child he had with “Kim.”

Trang gives birth to a baby girl. While pregnant, she regretted her decision not to have an abortion and intended to give up the child as soon as it was born; however, she is now overcome with love for her daughter and keeps her child. Quỳnh is livid at her sister for what she perceives as more foolishness. Quỳnh thinks that Dan was a mistake, and she tells Trang that life will be incredibly difficult with an illegitimate, Amerasian child. She tries to convince Trang to take the girl to an orphanage, but Trang is adamant. Eventually, Quỳnh realizes that her sister has made up her mind and grudgingly accepts Trang’s decision. The two gather their belongings and make their way to their new lodgings in the city. On the way, a blast strikes the motorbike that Quỳnh is driving.